ISLA PERCUSSION - Discussion, Quality, Experience, etc

[pcastag]

Yeah, like I stated before, the sound of isla is obviously top notch,I don't think anybody has ever questioned that, the look is great, the concept is great, but if they start falling apart 10 years down the road who cares about all that stuff! Good drums should last a while.
PC

[bongosnotbombs]

Are these the kind of glue lines that you're OK with BnB?

I fail to see how this type of workmanship is done by a caring artisan, not to mention the stain inconsistencies. click on the picture to see it enlarged.

Considering that I'm out about 4K CDN due the the shipping and exchange at the time of purchase, I think it is reasonable to expect a sound product. As mentioned in my other posts, there are other issues as well, such as the conga arriving cracked (something that looks to have happened during manufacturing but was sent out anyway), the drums are all different heights, they still have chalk marks on them from laying out bands etc. From where I sit Mario tagged me as an amateur and tried to take me for a ride.

C

I have similar, it never bothered me any. My quinto has been through more use than most as well, and still sounds excellent. My bata sounded great compared to all that I have heard. Are your drums under performing somehow? How can you be out money when you have drums in hand and more on the way?

[yambu321]

FOR ME THE SHAPE, OR THE BEAUTY OF A CONGA MEANS NOTHING IF IT'S SOUND IS NOT ON THE MONEY.
THE SOUND OF ISLA DRUMS IS DEFINATELY ON THE MONEY. BUT, UNFORTUNATELY ISLA IS LACKING ON THE BUSINESS END; WHICH INCLUDES, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP.

I COULD ONLY IMAGINE, JUST HOW GREAT ISLA WOULD BE, IF IT WOULD SHAPE UP, AND BE ALL THAT IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME. I LOVE MY ISLA'S BECAUSE THEY JUST SOUND--- SO DAAAM GOOOOOD!

I DO HOPE ISLA GETS IT TOGETHER. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT ABOUT GIVING CREATIVE LIP SERVICE, AND OFFERING EMPTY PROMISES. IT'S ABOUT BEING TRUE TO IT'S CUSTOMERS NEEDS.
QUALITY MUST ALWAYS BE A TOP PRIORITY.

CHARLIE.

[bongosnotbombs]

BnB - I don't know why you keep defending this man??? Through private communications you have indicated some knowledge of Mario as a person and expressed the statement that you "don't believe he is capable of ripping anyone off". I fail to understand how you can make these statements privately and then state publically that you don't know him as you have "never met him in person". Clearly you have some type of business or other type of relationship with him. That's called a conflict of interest buddy, especially when you aren’t forthcoming.

First, we should keep private statements private, lest I decide to post some of the ones you sent me okay? That is why they are called private and they should remain that way as a common courtesy. Second, I was answering a question that you asked me. I am not continuing to defend Mario, I am discussing the drums and asking you questions about your experience and relating my experience with Isla as well. That is what this forum is about. I will continue to say that I have known people to receive cracked drums from very respected makers, and there are people waiting far longer times than you for drums, and they don't claim they are being ripped off every time someone posts about them. It is unfortunate that you aren't happy with Isla drums, but some of us are. I truly hope Mario sends you drums that you will be happy with and enjoy as I do mine.

[yambu321]

WOW,
THIS IS AN UNWARRANTED ATTACK OF WORDS TOWARDS BONGOSNOTBOMBS.
CADENZA, I DO UNDERSTAND YOUR DISGUST OF YOUR DEALINGS WITH ISLA PERCUSSIONS.
NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT WITH ANY BUSINESS. BUT, TO GO OFF
EXCESSIVELY ON ONE OF OUR FELLOW BROTHERS, FOR HIS TAKE ON ISLA, IS OVER THE TOP.

CADENZA, TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT WE ARE ALL SADDENED ABOUT YOUR BAD EXPERIENCE WITH ISLA, AS WE ARE WITH THE OTHER CASES AS WELL. WE MAY BE HAPPY WITH OUR PARTICULAR EXAMPLES. BUT, WE FROWN WHEN OTHERS GET THE SHORT END OF THE STICK. IT'S JUST NOT RIGHT.
JUST REMEMBER THAT BNBS IS A FELLOW BROTHER
AND A GOOD ONE; AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED.

LET'S TREAT EACH OTHER RIGHT.
CHARLIE.

[pcastag]

Any promoter of isla is a liar? Seems like there's lots of people on here besides BNB who have bought isla and likes them.
PC

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[thomas newton]

So here we go again, another war of words.

I had a lot of sympathy for you Cadenza but I'm afraid it was evaporating the more I learned about your saga.

After reading recent posts in this thread that sympathy has gone and I'm just left with the final and permanent conclusion that ANYONE who puts big sums out there in advance payment for drums is asking for trouble, and frankly, deserves what they get. Sorry.

[bongosnotbombs]

Look, your criticism of my honesty is really unwarranted. I have never lied to you. I did specifically ask you in my PM to keep our conversation private. Now you are calling me dishonest, which I am not. And I cannot recall ever saying anything to you in a PM that is different from a post. As distasteful as I find these kinds of conversations, and I would like to apologize to the other forum members, since you are attacking my reputation I do feel I need to defend myself publicly, as my reputation here is important to me. I have done business with several members here, and hope to continue, and these allegations against my honesty really just don't work for me.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[bongosnotbombs]

Just two cents into this argument : Who shove it down Cadezas throat some time a you can not tell people this good , this person did right by me ,you should get . The person that does right by you may not do right by others . You may like one thing and the other person does not this why color were invented so you can choose. This guy Mario saw money all at once it was glory for him now Cadezas is screwed with something he did not like god knows how bad it looks and no one to vent and Mario happy as a pig in shit in Belize .Why ? he does not care.

Ranting on bongonotbombs were you the person that recommend of these drum ? If so then take the heat . Cadezas put his money were his mouth is you should help him get some type of satisfaction with his drums. no ifs or buts about it only fare that he get help that you are for what I see have in's with Mario .No one would put recommendation on a web page that does not belong to Isla .If isla want advertising he should have is own web site with his information and promote on his own not bongosnotbombs promoting for isla your reputation goes to shit by recommending and if it important to you will help him get problem solved. think of it as if they were your drums.

That is shoving down ones throat same thing happened a few years back when they wanted to shove Volcano down people throats. People let people make there own chooses what you like others don't like . If you want to recommend the way it done is give people a choose don't go just to one brand because you get benefits and I know many do so recommend wisely

You constantly continue to amaze me. Your supposition of the circumstances does not have any basis in reality. Your facetious allegations are quite preposterous.

[bongosnotbombs]

I thought I did answer all your questions. If you have more, or some that remain unanswered please feel free to ask me. What exactly is it about my behavior you disagree with? I see no reason why we can't resolve your personal problems with me amicably.

[BMac]

I have three things to add to this discussion:

1) I have seen/played in person only one Isla conga. It came from the maker recently and had a hole in its head. You read that right. A scar/imperfection in the skin was expressed as a small hole. The hole is too small to pass a tip of my pinky finger through ... but it's a hole nonetheless. Odd for a new drum.

2) I check ebay for congas almost every day. Some people read the comics ... I look at ebay for congas and vintage Schwinns. It doesn't matter if I'm in the mood to buy. I just do it. I have noticed that more Islas are available for re-sale than congas from other small/craft/high-end-price conga makers. There seems to be a disproportionate number of Isla buyers who re-sell their drums.

3) I learned a new word today : "inchoate"
Thanks Cadenza!

Cheers,
BMac

[pcastag]

Go back to the beginning of this thread, there was a lot of hype about isla back at the beginning, drums looked good and sounded good, but even then there were some issues with the hardware. looks like mario may have gotten in over his head and started to rush orders producing sub par drums, still had great sound, but had isses with contruction. I'm surprised that not alot of this was mentioned. in all honesty I've only seen a couple of sets of islas on e-bay, one three times before it finally sold. When you go on a public forum and give a review hopefully it's honest, but also as a buyer when going with a new untested independant company there are going to be risks. I think by now we all know that isla has some major quality control issues, some of the drums were sloppily made and put together while others appear to have a little more care taken when made. I think Jay, Matt, and Michel of Moperc have all established themselves as fine independent artisans, I would not hesitate to own a set of their drums, in fact I have , all but moperc. I also bought a set of skin on skins without ever playing any previously, just based on my friends recomendation. Having said that, as per usual sometimes we don't get what we bargained for, I sold my SOS to buy some CA gon bops because I wanted a brighter sounded set of drums, I had played Sol drums and knew AKbars skills as a drummaker. Fortunately I had a buddy who worked at GC and got me a cost deal, about 800 for two drums, later I bought a third for another 600, 1400 for a set of three. Didn't like the sound too much, a bit dry for my tastes, sold them and lost about 400 on them . Thats the way it goes, maybe if someone on here had jumped in on the isla conversation back when and said ( nice sounding tubs, but) Cadenza wouldn't be in the predicament he's in , however it's not anybodys fault but the buyer's and the producers. That's the way the world is sometimes. Right now my only set of drums is an old set of mexican oak drums that weight a ton, bought them for 200, had one fixed by Matt that cost about 260.00 to repair, ( shipping and skin included) so that's close to five bills, and a cuban cedro conga from santiago that cost me about 700 total, three drums, not going to win any beauty contests but I have fun playing them and they do fine for the occasional conga gig I get called for ( i'm primarily a kit player, percussion is my passion). Anyways, back to the point at hand, it's hard to criticize a drum unless you've played and/or owned it, and good advice would be to buy when you're sure about something.
PC

[mrhands]

Just two cents into this argument : Who shove it down Cadezas throat some time a you can not tell people this good , this person did right by me ,you should get . The person that does right by you may not do right by others . You may like one thing and the other person does not this why color were invented so you can choose. This guy Mario saw money all at once it was glory for him now Cadezas is screwed with something he did not like god knows how bad it looks and no one to vent and Mario happy as a pig in shit in Belize .Why ? he does not care.

Ranting on bongonotbombs were you the person that recommend of these drum ? If so then take the heat . Cadezas put his money were his mouth is you should help him get some type of satisfaction with his drums. no ifs or buts about it only fare that he get help that you are for what I see have in's with Mario .No one would put recommendation on a web page that does not belong to Isla .If isla want advertising he should have is own web site with his information and promote on his own not bongosnotbombs promoting for isla your reputation goes to shit by recommending and if it important to you will help him get problem solved. think of it as if they were your drums.

That is shoving down ones throat same thing happened a few years back when they wanted to shove Volcano down people throats. People let people make there own chooses what you like others don't like . If you want to recommend the way it done is give people a choose don't go just to one brand because you get benefits and I know many do so recommend wisely

You constantly continue to amaze me. Your supposition of the circumstances does not have any basis in reality. Your facetious allegations are quite preposterous.

Whoa dude. It's obvious leedy2 doesn't speak or write english well. That was a pretty douchebag move to respond to him that way. Just sayin..